Chapter 13

Mom and Danny are gonna fight? In a restaurant? This is better than I thought! This is good, for a few minutes I thought Mom was gonna say she wanted to go back to New York and live there with Danny. You know what? Anywhere but New York with Danny is better than what's going on right now.

"Pardon me, madam Lindsay," Danny was saying something weird. "Geez, I can't ask a simple question?"

"No, you can, but you know what that was, Daniel Messer?" I see Mom getting mad. "That was a blatant disregard for how I want to raise my daughter."

"I..."

"You know, I came back to New York so she could meet you. I didn't even want her to find out about you!" She grabs my hand and pulls me out of my chair. "Come on, Maddie, let's go, we're leaving."

I see Danny getting up and trying to stop her, but we're out the restaurant's door before he can untangle his legs. Mom's almost pulling me along the sidewalk before I start yelping, almost like a puppy.

"Mom, my feet!" I yell. I'm only wearing my sandals, and my toes are scraping the pavement. There's little spots of blood showing up.

"Oh geez!" Mom stops and looks down. "Okay..." she bends down and picks me up. Now she's gonna have to carry me all the way back to the hotel. "Aww, Maddie, I'm sorry. I forgot you were only wearing your sandals."

"That's okay Mom, it's just a little scrape." I say, trying to be brave. I don't know why we're running so fast when we're not in danger. I guess Mom just wants to get back to the hotel before Danny catches up with us... she's still really mad.

"TAXI!" I hear her yell, waving her arms. I guess that's what 'flagging' means. Just as the taxi is about to pull up, I see Stella in her car just down the street. She waves at me, and I tug on Mom's hand.

"Mom, look! There's Stella!" I whisper loudly. mom turns her head and sees her there. We go over to her car and we get in. I strap my seat belt on in the back seat and wait until Mom gets in. We drive around, and go back to Stella's apartment. We go inside, and I sit on her couch. It's comfy.

"Thanks so much, Stella. I really wasn't expecting you to show up just after we'd left the restaurant." Mom says, getting a cup of coffee from her and then handing me a cup of cocoa. I sip it slowly, so I don't burn my tongue.

"Ice cream?" Stella asks, opening the freezer.

"I'd love some, thanks." Mom answers. She catches the small container that Stella throws at her with two hands. Stella puts one down in front of me. It's a little container of Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk, my favourite! I take a spoon from her, open the container, and dig in. Mom always tells me, "All things in moderation", and I think that means that I can have a little bit, just not too much. I don't wanna get a tummy ache, so I take a few spoonfuls and that's it. I close the container again and I try to put it back in the freezer. It slips, and I drop it. Ice cream splatters all over the floor.

"Oohhh..." I moan.

Stella and Mom get up and come toward me. They see the mess in front of the fridge, and they see me. I'm starting to cry.

"I'm sorry," I wail, "I didn't mean to."

"I know, sweetie, it's okay." Mom bends down, grabbing a washcloth to help me clean up. There's a knock at the door a few seconds later. Stella opens it, and there he is. Dad is standing at the door.

Did I just call him Dad?